Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that, for the second year in a row, the average basic premium for a Medicare Part D prescription drug plan in 2019 is projected to decline.

On July 25, 2018, CMS proposed changes that would encourage site-neutral payment between sites of services and make healthcare prices more transparent for patients so that they can be more informed about out-of-pocket costs.

CMS and FDA are both working to accelerate innovation in the biosimilars market – CMS has taken action to do so by providing biosimilars with separate payment codes and by lowering the amount of cost sharing that low-income beneficiaries pay for biosimilars.

Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued the first-ever approval of a state plan amendment proposal to allow the state of Oklahoma to negotiate supplemental rebate agreements involving value-based purchasing arrangements with drug manufacturers that could produce extra rebates for the state if clinical outcomes are not achieved.